Side Effects
by Unknown Apostate
Summary: Isn't it wonderful when teleportation goes wrong? Well, that is what happened to the Night Elf Death Knight, Raven when she activated the device Chromie gave her. And now she is in the magic-trapping world of Thedas with Hawke and friends. Begins at Act 2 with Diplomatic/Friendly Warrior M!Hawke/Merrill. Rated for Chapter 2 and on for Laria's language and attitude.
1. Chapter 1: Malfunctions

**Side Effects**

Chapter 1: Malfunctions

A dark-cherry haired Night Elf Death Knight looked at the clock-thing that Chromie gave her. The symbols on the object makes her head hurt, just like anything else the Bronze dragon tells her. She only knew her past and present, but going back in time or forward, keeping things the same from the Infinite Dragonflight, changing things they changed, taking… _'Think of something else.'_ Combat, resurrection, undeath, magic, enchantments, and even some Gnomish gadgets are all things Raven understood, but not time-travel. Regardless she activated the device and a small portal in the shape of a clock appeared in front of her. Raven stepped through the portal, and fell about three feet when she was on the other side. "Sand…" She mumbled while wiping the particles from her Saronite plate armor and out of her hair and put the device in her pack. She then looked around the area, this place looked nothing like what Chromie described, there was a barren land, cliffs, sand, and four bandits heading her way… with their weapons sheathed.

"And you think she won't attack?" The crossbow-wielding dwarf said. _'The __**beardless**__ dwarf.'_

"Yea, she's too out of place." The male human with a short beard and a sword and shield said.

"Are you going to attack us?" An elven mage asked. _'A Kaldorei?'_

A tanned-skin woman with two daggers sighed, "Merrill…"

"I'm not sure," Raven started, "I think I forgot my sword…"

"But it is on your back!" Merrill responded. She paused for a few seconds, and then said quietly, "Oh, sarcasm."

"I thought bandits were…"

"Bandits?" The dwarf smiled, "I wouldn't stoop that low… Rivaini here, though…"

"Varric, There is only one thing I would like to steal _from_ her…" The tanned woman said.

"Isabella!" The bearded human scolded.

"You could join us, Hawke, you know that." She continued.

"Not interested." Raven said.

Before she could respond, Hawke changed the subject, "We are looking for a group of mages, care to help out?"

"Sure." She replied and began following the group. After a few minutes of walking, she began to feel the heat, even past her aura of cold, but before she was going to complain, she felt a 'twitch' in her head… mages. "This way." Raven said, taking a left into a small cave. She heard one of them sigh, but they followed anyway.

"And how do you know it's this way?" The man asked.

Raven didn't answer, and stopped when she hit a stone door; she exhaled and unsheathed her greatsword, then sliced the door horizontally, which fell apart.

"And the sword slices stone!" She heard the dwarf exclaim.

Raven went through the door to find two mages preparing a spell for her, quite potent spells in fact. Still, she silenced the one on the left and death-gripped the other, pulling him to her. She used the momentum to slice the man in half, and noticed the other was _still_ silenced. _'An inexperienced mage that can cast strong spells.'_ She would've charged at him but a bolt was shot in his chest, and fell to the ground, dead.

"How did you do that?" She heard the elf ask.

"Are you a Mage?" The human asked.

Raven groaned, _'Damn-it Chromie, where am I?'_

"I sense a story here." Varric said.

"And some ale." Isabella added.

"I don't suppose I am anywhere near Azeroth?" Raven sighed, _'Who knows where she ended up.'_

The smile from the dwarf said it all. "How about you follow us to the Hanged Man, and we will talk nonsense there."

"I could use a drink." She replied, and followed the group to the city of Kirkwall.

When Raven walked into the Hanged Man, she was greeted by silence and lots of staring. Hawke guided Raven to Varric's suite, while Isabella and Varric brought the drinks.

"So," Raven started, "I'm guessing that glowing eyes are rare?"

"Unless you are like Anders, yeah." Hawke replied.

"Who?"

"He's coming, along with the rest of the group."

Raven nodded and sipped some ale, which she coughed up. "I've had enough." She spoke while Varric laughed out loud.

"Varric!" A hot-tempered woman warned, "If you send another one of your messengers while I'm giving the daily briefing…"

"Aveline! Wonderful you're here, meet Raven." Varric said, completely ignoring her ranting.

"Greeting Raven, I am Aveline, Guard-Captain of Kirkwall." The red-hair woman spoke, "And I guess you're part of Garrett's group now?"

"For now, yes."

"Is she like Anders?" Aveline asked.

"Possessed? Nah, I don't think so."

"He's possessed?" Raven looked confused, "By what?"

"Well, not exactly possessed, he just let a spirit of Justice into him."

"So he smites people?" Raven chuckled.

"He has yet to 'smite' me." Isabella commented.

"Don't mind her." Aveline said.

"Hawke!" An archer called, "I'm here…" He looked at the Elven guest, "Greetings my lady, I am Sebastian. I don't suppose you are a new addition to the group?"

"Yes, I am Raven."

"Hello Hawke," A blonde man said as he walked in, "A friend of yours? Is she a…"

"Mage? No. Interested in your manifestos? Certainly not, Anders." The dwarf replied quickly.

"Manifestos for…?" Raven started.

"The Mage's Plight." Anders said.

Before she could answer, Varric said, "If you want to hear it, wait until you two leave."

"You called, Hawke?" An elf with tattoos asked. Raven felt a pulse from them, were the tattoos pure mana?

"Fenris…" Anders greeted carefully who just replied with an accusative glance.

"So, Raven," Varric started off, "How did you get here?"

"This enchanted clock-thing," Raven answered, while pulling the item out her pack.

"What IS that?" Anders said while looking at it up close.

"Some sort of device used by a member of the Bronze Dragonflight." The confused glances from the others reminded her that this isn't Azeroth. "Right, there are five main type of dragons, Red, Blue, Green, Bronze, and Black. They are the primary because the Titans… er, Creators, gave one dragon from each flight incredible power, making each an Aspect. The Aspects were Alexstrasza the Life-Binder for the Reds, Malygos the Spell-Weaver for the Blues, Ysera the Dreamer for the Greens, Nozdormu the Timeless One for the Bronzes, and Neltharion the Earth Warden for the Blacks…"

"Were…" Varric leaned in, interested, "They are dead?"

"A few are dead, Malygos was declared dangerous and had to be put down, and Kalecgos took his place. Neltharion became corrupted by the Old Gods, he was also killed, and Thrall, the former Orcish Warchief, took his place."

"Interesting…"

"Perhaps I can tell you the history later? It will probably take a day."

Varric took the hint and went more personal with, "What are you?"

"Now? I am a Death Knight, once the risen servants of the Lich King."

"You're an elf, though!" Merrill spoke up, unexpectedly, who then shied out.

"Bah, as a Death Knight, I might as well been called nothing, I've worked with people who would love to see each other's head on a pike."

"And your eyes glow, why?" Hawke asked.

"I am a Night Elf, nearly all have a soft blue glow, but all Death Knights have this glow."

Varric was about to talk when a messenger walked into the room, "Messere Hawke, a letter from the Viscount."

Hawke began to read the letter, "I'm going to have to cut this short, looks like the Viscount need me, and you too, Aveline."

"At your side." The Guard-captain replied.

"Raven, would you rather stay here, or in my mansion?"

"I don't think I can stand much more in here."

"We'll stop by my place, then." Raven got up and followed the other two through the streets of Lowtown and into Hightown, all the while Raven was given suspicious looks.

After Garrett opened the door and led her in, he called out, "Mother? We have a guest, would take care of her? The Viscount needs me."

"Don't take long, dear…" the elder woman paused when she saw the guest, "Pardon my son's behavior, he is always running errands for people, my name is Leandra Hawke." She held out her hand.

"Raven." She paused before removing her gauntlet to shake her hand, and Leandra visibly shivered.

"Are you okay? You are quite cold."

"My kind are like that," and she gently pushed the mother's hand away when it neared her armor. "I would not recommend that, the material will harm you." Raven said softly.

"You are just full of misfortunes, aren't you?" She asked in a worried tone.

"Sadly, yes." And she put her gauntlet back on.

"Would you like to sit and have some tea?"

"Yes, please." Leandra guided her to one of the chairs near the fireplace and left to make some tea.

"Here you go, dear." The elder said as she gave the Kal'dorei a cup of tea. She took a small sip; the tea was sweet, like there was honey added. Honey, like what her nanny fed her when she was a baby, the one she killed. Raven frowned and she felt like crying. "Would you like to talk about it?"

"I shouldn't burden you with my guilt."

"Keeping your emotions bottled up will be just as bad."

Raven nodded, "About fifty years into my life as a warrior for my kind, after the war against the demons of the Burning Legion, the undead began assaulting our lands by the order of the Lich King. A large group of war veterans, including myself, set sail towards Northrend, the Lich King's home. When we landed, we were immediately attacked by a vicious Nerubian; it was a massive spider queen. We managed to take her down, but her poison killed half of our troops, and killing more since we couldn't cure it with spells. The few of us, maybe five or six, held off the Scourge for days, until they brought a Frost Wyrm, a massive dragon stripped of its flesh and radiating a freezing aura. The Wyrm froze the others, impaled me, and took my body to their master, where I was reborn as a Death Knight under the service of the Lich King." Tears began forming in Raven's eyes as she continued, "Under his command I slaughtered countless innocents, and deep into the campaign, I was ordered to kill my nanny, I can still see her dying!" Raven broke into tears.

"Shh." Leandra cooed as she wiped the tears off of her face. Unfortunately, one small tear was in contact with both the mother's finger and Raven's armor, and that was enough to make Leandra hear whispers from the Old God.

Raven immediately moved, knocking the chair down, but separating the contact between Leandra, and her armor. She knew what happens to most people when exposed to Saronite, she had to strike down many of the forced laborers in the Saronite mines of Icecrown. "Leandra? Can you hear me?"

"Yes, w-what was that?"

"The Old God named Yogg-Saron, don't worry, you won't be affected from a brief moment of contact."

"Hello?" A dwarven voice said when the door to the mansion was open.

"Oh, hello Bodahn." Leandra replied. "I am going to take a nap, excuse me." She said as she went up to her room.

"Hello, you must be a friend to Messere Hawke, my name's Bodahn Feddic."

"My name is Raven, nice to meet you."

"Hello." Another dwarf said as he walked up to Raven.

"And this is my boy Sandal."

Sandal felt Raven's armor and exclaimed, "Enchantment!"

Bodahn quickly pulled the younger one away. "Pardon him, he is, different."

Raven was about to respond, when Hawke entered, "Good, you are still here…"

"Is something wrong?"

"According to some half-dead scouts, there is a war party approaching Kirkwall from The Wounded Coast." Hawke looked at Bodahn, "We might be gone for a while." The dwarf nodded.

"Let's go, then." Raven said.

"Right." When Hawke and Raven reached the outskirts of Kirkwall, the others, being Varric and Anders, were waiting for them. "No-one else came?" Hawke asked aloud.

"Broody mumbled something about mages, Aveline is doing stuff with the guards, and Daisy is working with that mirror."

"Sebastian? Isabella?"

"Should be arriving shortly."

"…popular with the brothels?" Raven heard a certain pirate ask.

"Before I became a brother, to a degree." The archer replied. A very distinct 'ooo' was heard afterwards.

"Where are we off to?" Anders asked.

"The Wounded Coast, there is a large group of bandits." Hawke said as he began walking.

"Large?" Isabella asked.

"According to the scout, maybe three or four camps worth." The group traveled for an hour or two, thankfully the sun was long past its highest perch, so they were blessed with shade along the way.

The group stopped upon hearing a voice shout from inside of cave, "Don't touch that!"

"It's not touching if I'm going to break it." A second person said.

"What if it won't break?"

"I stole this sword from one of those guards in Kirkwall, it will work." A sharp clang was heard. "It didn't even leave a scratch!"

"Screw this, I'm out of here!" A bandit rushed out of the cave and had a terrified face on, "Look, you can have that rock, I just want to live!" He said as he looked at the group, and then continued running. Seconds later, a sickening crunch noise echoed through the cave.

"And we're going to go in there, aren't we?" The healer said.

"Of course." Garrett replied, with his sword and shield ready. The group entered the cave, which had an over-powering smell of decaying corpses.

"Maker." Varric choked. "Did the whole band die here?"

The cave had torches further on, and an altar was in a circle of torches, with a fist-sized rock on the altar, and the rock was covered in a flowing blue liquid, much like, "Saronite, don't touch it." Which she then picks it up.

"You said don't touch it." Sebastian said.

"Yea, because it doesn't affect me."

"Affect? Like lyrium?" Hawke asked.

"That isn't any lyrium that I feel." Anders replied.

"_You are not troubled by the blood of my master."_ An echoing voice said, as a human with a black and white robe phased into the cave.

"Your master? Yogg-Saron is dead." Raven replied as she looked at the man.

"_I do not speak of the Old Gods, Death Knight."_

"Then another ancient being decided to take some Saronite so he could bleed on it?" She said with a smirk.

"_Your time will come, Raven, the Infinites shall get rid of you. Time is not on your side in Thedas." _He said as he began vanishing.

But to his surprise, Raven prevented him from 'leaving' with some necromancy. "What? Did you forget that an image is considered part of your spirit?"

Yet the man relaxed, _"You wish to interrogate me, then?"_

"Easy to work with? Good, then tell me how your Flight retained time travel."

"_You know why."_ He replied dryly, but before she applied pain, he added, _"It has to do with our Flight's lack of an appointed Aspect."_

"Since the Aspects returned to mortals, their flights went to a much weaker state." She paused, and then it made sense, "So you're saying that since the Infinites never had an Aspect, they never gained or lost power for your entire existence."

"_And now she understands, the Bronze can no longer help you, Raven, if events were to change, they would stay corrupted. Goodbye, Death Knight." _The man effortlessly dispelled the magic binding him, and vanished.

Varric was the first to speak, "Ok, I thought you said there were only five of these, uh types of dragons."

"We're going have to make a camp, night is approaching." Hawke said.

"Not here, right?" Isabella asked.

"It will have to be close." The group made a make-shift campsite near the cave, most fell asleep, except for Raven, she quietly made her way to a cliff overlooking the ocean, and sat down while studying the altered Saronite.

The Infinite member was right, the liquid that ran through the mineral's 'veins' was not the same as the Saronite in Icecrown, nor was it the same as her armor and sword. When she looked closer, she saw what looked like grains of sand flowing, but the particles were black and white, like the Infinite's defining colors.

"Aren't you going to sleep?" Anders asked, slightly startling her.

"I don't need it." She looked at him briefly.

"You will if you keep staying up."

"Not when you've been cursed with undeath."

"So you're not possessed, then?" He sat down beside her.

She frowned, "I've lived a full life, had my own family, one of the top soldiers in the Alliance…"

"It didn't last?"

"I died about three weeks upon landing in Northrend; the mission was simple, build a base and clear the area. Everyone was fine the first week, the workers were keeping a steady pace, we kept the front line defended." She paused, "I guess the Scourge took notice, as at the end of the second week, we've lost half of our workers from infiltrators. The third week was hell, the workers were killed off, the boats burned, and we were killed. But the Lich King wouldn't leave me be, he resurrected me, and used me as weapon for his army."

"But you broke free." Anders said enthusiastically, trying to cheer her up.

A small smile, "Yes, with the help of Darion, we broke free," a heavy frown showed, "free to live the horrors, free to feel our emotions again." She sighed, "Most of the Death Knights shook it off, they were too busy planning against the Lich King, I doubt most even had a family, something to fight for, besides vengeance." Another frown, "When I returned to my home, I was greeted with happy disbelief from my fellow soldiers, some even cried, but they all welcomed me. All of the sentinels welcomed me, druids welcomed me." She paused as tears formed, "I wrote to my husband and he wrote back," the tears forming now was clearly not from happy times, "He wrote that he will not have any undead abominations coming near him and his son."

"I'm sorry to hear that." Anders said.

"Get some sleep; I'll be at the water's edge in the morning." She said as she made her way down the cliff. Anders wanted to follow, but the feeling of sleep forced him to walk back to the camp.

Once the sun rose, the first one to wake was Isabella, "How is it cold?" She said while rubbing herself.

"Cold? I feel a cool breeze." Varric said groggily, "And I see some… ice?" He said as he rubbed his eyes.

Sebastian got up, "Ice? On The Wounded Coast?"

Hawke was the last to get up, "Maker, who turned off the sun?"

The archer got up and looked for Raven, his armor provided the most protection. He found her off the coast, on a small platform of ice, looking at something. Before he called her name, she paused and put the small object away, "We're leaving?" She yelled.

"Yes." He replied, and he could have sworn he seen fresh tears on her face, as the tears were reflecting the sun's light. He would've asked about it, but thought against it, because when she passed him he felt an aura of pain on her, and her eyes showed that she was ready to snap.

"I guess we should return to the viscount…" Hawke said as he began leading the group towards Kirkwall.

Raven was at the back of the group, still silent and with the chunk of Saronite in her sight. "Are you okay?" Anders asked as he slowed to her pace.

She stayed silent for a moment, "Fine." Yet her tone was far from it, she sounded annoyed.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"So you can get involved with them? No." She said with more venom then she meant to.

"It doesn't have to be about the… Infinites…?"

"Hawke said you have a Spirit of Justice in you?"

He nodded, "Yes."

"Willingly?"

"Of course, it was a dire situation at the time, spirits need a body to inhabit to live outside the Fade, and we… formed a bond over the time we traveled together."

"You saved him?"

Anders paused a little, "At the time, yes. But… after some time in me, he saw my hatred of the Templars, and treatment of Mages, he changed."

"So he isn't Justice?"

"He is Vengeance." The two were silent the rest of the way.

"The viscount is waiting, Serah Hawke." Bran greeted. "And, you're friend?" He took notice to the Death Knight.

"She is here to explain the situation." Bran nodded in understanding.

Garrett walked into the office, "Dumar…" Hawke said. Raven remained silent as she bowed.

"Good, you're here, and she is?" Dumar's faced was concerned.

"I'm Raven." She said, and her voice startled the Viscount, "I'm here to help explain what happened at The Wounded Coast."

His face paled, if someone had to _help _explain, this must've been terrible. "Please, explain."

"My companions and I traveled to the Wounded Coast," Hawke began, "Upon arrival to the bandit's location, the place was covered with corpses, all of them were bandits…"

Raven touched his shoulder to stop him, "I suspected the bandits killed each other, as inside a cave was a chunk of Saronite, which has the essence of the Old God of Death, Yogg-Saron. The mineral itself causes most to go insane with images and voices from him."

"Oh, my." Dumar tried to compose himself, "Is there any way to counter the voices? Destroy this mineral?"

"Saronite is normally four times stronger than steel, and resistant to all types of magic, yet the one I saw was in a weakened state."

"Did you destroy it?"

"No."

"Why not? You said yourself it is dangerous."

"I… Hawke, this will take some time to explain, and you've already heard this part."

"Is there anything you have to say?" Dumar asked Garrett.

"I'm afraid not."

"Then you may leave." Hawke nodded and left for The Hanged Man.

* * *

**A/N:** Okay, so this is the story that was in my head, that _wouldn't _leave me alone. The only OCs are Raven and Laria, but this Laria is going to be from an alternate universe from the one she is in. She will appear in the next chapter. I will cover the end of Act 2 and 3, Mark of the Assassin, and Legacy. Many quests will be altered (or gone) due to the new characters.


	2. Chapter 2: Draconic Favors

Chapter 2: Draconic Favors

"Hello, Hawke." Isabella greeted as he walked into the tavern.

"Hello."

"You see that woman in the corner?" She motioned her head to the table next to the fireplace.

Hawke saw a white-skinned woman clearly born into nobility, she wore a finely made dress with the colors of a rich purple, black, and orange. She obviously had a strong stomach too, as she was downing ale after ale. "Yea? What about her?"

"You see what's she doing, right?" Isabella sounded irritated.

"Yes. What's wrong?"

"Do you see something missing from my little spot here!?" She directed Hawke towards the spot where she always puts her ale at, but there wasn't any.

"Did you pay them?"

"No shit! But they prefer _her_ because she's throwing gold like it was trash."

"You are asking me to take care of someone pissing _you _off?"

"Aw, you **do** want to help, go get her!" The pirate smiled.

"I didn't mean…" Hawke realized he was lured into a trap. "Alright." He sighed and went over to the woman.

"That's my boy." She laughed.

"Serah, I would ask that you would stop drinking." Hawke said politely.

While chugging down another mug, the woman looked over Hawke, and her eyes landed on his weapons, "You have 'tools'… make me." She gave a challenging grin and she didn't even sound drunk in the least.

"Perhaps I **tell **you to stop chugging all the ale…"

She stood up about three inches taller than him with her eyes a radiant amber, "Tell? How about you convince me? I have yet to have a good fight here, you put on a good show, and I'll put down the ale."

"Hey! No weapons! Don't want blood on the floor." Corff called out from his bar.

"Fine, a fistfight then, first one to cry in pain loses." Hawke hesitated, "What's the matter? Surely a strong man like you doesn't need encouragement to fight."

Hawke gave up trying to do the peaceful route, and let a punch fly right to her chest, which only staggered her in the slightest manner. He then let his other fist go towards her face, which she caught and twisted, "The first one to cry in pain loses…" she reminded him as she saw his face turn red. He managed to reverse the twist, sending her off balance and he leaped at her, bringing her to the floor. She let out a loud laugh, she was enjoying the moment. She rolled him under her and she backhanded him on the cheek. He jabbed his knee towards her stomach again, and she got off of him, seemingly unharmed by his attacks. "Put some muscle into your hits!" She taunted. He unleashed a massive punch to her face, knocking an entire tooth out of her mouth. It only made her grin more, "That's right!" She nearly shouted as she smacked him across the check with her fist, causing him to stumble back a few steps.

"Stop it you two! I said no blood!" Corff said as he pointed towards a small pool of blood leaking from their injuries.

Her mood changed instantly, and she held out her hand towards Hawke, "You are a good fighter; Laria."

"Garrett Hawke." He said as he shook her hand.

"Now I believe your girlfriend wanted a drink?" She said as she motioned towards Isabella.

"She isn't my…" Hawke's face reddened.

"Just joking." She laughed. "Let's get you both some ales, I bet you got some stories to tell."

"Isabella…" Hawke called out as he neared her.

The Rivaini turned to him and gave a quick glare to Laria, "I saw you had some fun with her." She grinned.

"This is Laria." He said, "And she is Isabella."

Laria put out her hand and gave the pirate a death grip when they shook hands.

After she let go, Isabella said, "So it's going to be like that?"

"Surely you don't need a man to protect you?" The other grinned.

"Need? No, I don't, but it is nice to have them to do work for me."

"I like your style. A round on me?"

"Only if it applies to the others."

"Why not?"

"Oh, good." She smiled in an evil manner, "Corff three for each in Hawke's group."

"Three? Make my order five." She said while tossing five gold coins at the bartender.

"Ooh." Isabella purred, "How about we put on a show?"

"I don't do stripping."

"Mmm while that would be nice, I'm talking about a little prank." She turned to Hawke, "Go on to Varric's suite, we'll be there soon, and don't mention a word about us or the ale." Hawke's face went blank… what we're they planning? "All right Laria, I will arrive at the same time the ale does and…"

Hawke got into Varric's room in The Hanged Man, "Hawke!" Varric called out in his dwarven chair, with all of the others in the room, except for Raven, Isabella, and Laria.

Hawke tried to keep his face passive, but the 'prank' kept running through his head. "Varric." He responded.

Varric laid out his hand and went for the relatively small gold pile, there would be more if the pirate was playing. "Not so fast dwarf." Fenris's voice sounded as he laid out his superior hand. Anders let out a groan as his weak card hand showed. Merrill wasn't even playing, content with observing. Aveline sighed as her hand was shown, it was better than Ander's at least. Finally Sebastian's cards were revealed, which were better than Varric's but not as good as Fenris's. With a small grin, the warrior elf took the earnings, slightly more than seven gold coins.

"And what will you do with that gold, elf? Clean up your mansion?" Varric asked.

"Perhaps get some ale, and show it off." He replied.

"Good, then we can put this ale on **your **tab Fenris!" The voice of Isabella said as she walked in. Hawke's face hardened, they weren't going to make him pay for, what, nearly twenty-five ales?

Fenris's eyes narrowed eyes the over two-dozen ales were brought in. "Who's the nug-humper who ordered those!?" Varric asked. "Isabella!" He called out as he saw her smile.

Three by three the ales were placed and a bundle of five were placed on an open spot of the table. "Seven gold, serah." Norah said, with the smallest hint of a grin.

"Give me my gold back, Fenris!"

He smiled, "I did **win** this gold, and it is **your** bill." He took a sip of the ale.

"Isabella!?" She shook her head and showed her empty pockets. "Of all the nug-humping sodding…" Varric grumbled as he pulled out seven gold coins to pay. "**You** owe me, Rivaini."

Yet what happened next stunned Varric, and royally pissed him off. Norah walked over to Isabella and gave her the money. "Don't get mad at her." Isabella said. Norah exited the room in a hurry. "Someone else in our group paid before you did." She said while putting the coins in her pocket.

Varric eyes went immediately to Hawke, since he **was **late to cards. Hawke then looked at Isabella in a furious manner. "Is it Raven?" He asked, since she was the only one in their group not here.

"Varric." Laria said as she walked in, "Thanks for helping the ladies out." She smiled.

"Who? What?"

"This is Laria." The pirate announced, "And the victim is Varric, then Merrill, Aveline, Sebastian, Anders, and Fenris." She pointed to each, respectively.

"Am I getting my gold back?" The dwarf asked.

"This is Laria's money now…" Isabella said as she handed her the gold.

"Fourteen gold lost today." He grabbed the ale, "This ale better be worth it."

"I-uh…" Merrill said, "Do I **have **to drink all three?"

"Don't want it? Pass it to me." Laria said as she sat down with her _five_ mugs.

"You sure drink a lot…" Anders said as she downed two ales, seemingly immune to the alcohol.

"When you're like me, alcohol does nothing to you."

"'_Like'_ you?" Varric asked with a smile, "What's so different about you?"

She returned the smile, and said in a drama-filled voice, "Oh, but you would never believe me."

"Try me."

She downed another ale before saying, "I'm a dragon."

"So, you're like Asha'Bellanar?" Merrill asked.

"Not sure, don't know this person."

"So do you breathe fire?" The elf continued.

"It's not my favorite way to deal with things, but I can."

"Roasting Darkspawn by the dozens with fire isn't your way of dealing with things?" Hawke asked.

"Oh, I see. Just because I'm a dragon, it means that all I do in my other form is breathe fire and fly." She sounded slightly annoyed.

"What else can you do as a dragon, then?"

She chuckled, "What else I can do, he says."

"Did I offend you?" Hawke asked.

"Oh, no. What else do the dragons do here? 'Sides from flames and flying?"

"Not much else…?"

She snorted, "I'm really in a backwards world, then."

"What else do they do where you come from, oh great dragon?" Varric asked.

"Keep the time-ways free of defections, drive off ancient beings, revive parts of the world, see into the future, weave magic, and my favorite, informing ignorant mortals about our superior status."

"No need to be harsh." The guard captain stated.

"Harsh? Words are nothing, talk to me when you are revived from near death." She paused to chug her last ale down. "And start laying eggs."

"I was half-expecting you to talk about some battle that you fought." The dwarf said.

"Battles? Yea, I've did plenty of those. I've had my scales _torn_ off, objects piercing a hole through my body, all the good stuff. But nothing hurt more than laying batches of eggs." They seemed unconvinced, "Apparently you never seen an egg with spikes."

Isabella choked on some ale from the comment, Aveline seemed disgusted, Varric raised an eyebrow. "And that's normal?" Anders asked.

"Yeah, mating is good and all 'till you have about ten of them popping out…"

"A different topic, please." Hawke demanded.

"Alright," Varric started, "let's do something simple, where are you from?"

"Born and raised in the land of Durotar." She received puzzled stares, "Right, it is on the continent of Kalimdor," Still puzzled, "On the planet of Azeroth."

Realization showed, "So you know Raven?" Aveline asked.

Now she seemed puzzled, but then switched to a thinking stance, "Raven?" She repeated, "The Night Elf Death Knight?" Agreeing nods, something was wrong here, "No, what year is this?" She knew Raven, and Laria _saw _her die at the hands of Alexstrasza.

"9:31 Dragon…" Varric said in an amused tone.

She never heard the year represented in this manner, where has she ended up? "Bah," She refused to believe them, "I **saw **Raven die, she is _gone_."

Varric was amused by this, "No, no, no, you're crazy, I was with her earlier today and yesterday, Hawke, Sebastian, Isabella, and Anders can approve this."

"And I'm telling you I'll believe this, when I see her." She said while downing the last three ales.

"She should be returning from the Viscount soon." Hawke said.

As if on cue, Raven walked through the door, and Laria did a double-take. Raven looked at her in a foreign manner. "Another member of the group?" She asked Hawke.

He stayed silent, and Laria spoke in a forced neutral tone, "Raven?"

"Uh, do I know you?"

"I'm Laria…" She said. Yet Raven didn't show any recognition, "The Black Dragon Aspect that you tried to kill…"

"No, Thrall has taken mantle of the Earth Aspect, because Deathwing..."

"Deathwing? She was the Life-Binder, Neltharion was killed by her…"

Raven grew annoyed, "_Neltharion_ was corrupted by the Old Gods, _he _became Deathwing…"

"_Alexstrasza_ was corrupted, **you** served her, _you _were killed by her!" At the same moment, both realized the problem, and Laria sighed, "My luck, I'm in an alternate universe of Azeroth, shit…"

"This is Thedas, not Azeroth." Raven said.

"I'm on another planet with a Raven that is from an alternate timeline of Azeroth…" Laria corrected.

"Some clarity here? I'm lost." Anders admitted.

"It's simple…" Varric smiled, "These two are insane!"

"I wouldn't expect mortals to understand." Laria said with venom.

"I really wouldn't," Raven said, "'Basic' Time Travel hurts my head enough."

"How about you two sort your, pasts, out, and come back when you can make sense?"

Laria nodded in agreement and went to the nearest room, which was occupied. "Wh-what are you doing in here!?" The man in the room squeaked.

"Borrowing your room."

"You can't just do that!" Raven scolded.

"Bullshit," she turned to the man, "twenty gold says you will get your ass out of here for a few hours."

"Tw-twenty?" She nodded and threw him a small pouch, which he opened and counted the twenty pieces. He said a small 'thank you' and left the room.

"You can't just buy people out like that!"

"You said Neltharion turned into Deathwing in your timeline?"

She groaned, Laria certainly had the bitter personality on 'lesser' beings, "Yes."

"What of Onyxia and Nefarian?"

"I killed them."

A very neutral, "Why?" was heard, but Raven could tell she was angered.

"Nefarian experimented on the other Flights to make a new type of Dragon…"

"The Chromatic Flight?"

"Yes, how did you know?"

"Alexstrasza ordered the same."

Raven shuddered, she couldn't imagine the Life-Binder doing such a thing. "I couldn't see the dragon queen doing that…"

"Neltharion was our dragon king," She informed the elf, "Until Deathwing struck him down during a battle."

"Can we just use their original names? Since the Deathwing I know and the Deathwing you know are different."

She mumbled something about mortals, "Fine."

"What became of Thrall?"

"He is Warchief, and has several small treaties with the Alliance with the help of Proudmoore. Yours?"

"He left the Horde to become a shaman of The Earthen Ring so he could help heal Azeroth, then Garrosh Hellscream took over as Warchief."

"Garrosh?" She seemed amused, "The fragment of an Orc from Outlands? He was found dead after being attacked by a small band of Draenei!" Her face turned serious, "But of course, he must be different in your timeline."

"How did you become an Aspect? Would the power behind the title tear a human apart?"

"I _was_ an Orc." She corrected, "Regardless, Nefarian saved me from certain death, but he had to infuse me with the essence of the Black Flight. And when Neltharion died, I was one of the few Flight members alive, Nefarian and Onyxia died together, and the rest of the heirs to the Aspect were assassinated, I was the strongest left, so I was gifted the power. Anything special with you? You were just a Death Knight in my world."

"Not really, helped the other Aspects kill Neltharion, killed the Shas in Pandaria as well as Garrosh."

"Pandaria? Sha? And you said Garrosh was the Warchief."

"The mists never parted in your world, then. For me, something happened and the Horde and Alliance found out about Pandaria. Well, it turns out that the negative energies, things like Anger or Fear, manifest into creatures, the most powerful being the Sha of the certain emotion. Garrosh was corrupted by the Heart of Y'shaarj, we managed to kill him and Vol'jin took the mantle of Warchief."

"At any rate, know one thing, in my timeline you aided the corrupted Life-Binder and helped nearly kill off _**my **_Flight, I will not hesitate to turn against you for any reason."

"But I am not that Raven."

"We will see…"

* * *

**A/N: **Bringing in different time-lines is always fun. Laria's Azeroth is kind of the opposite to the WoW's story. Alexstrasza recieved the whispers of the Old God, The Cataclysm never happened, so the Mists didn't part. Horde and Alliance are on some similiar terms. Malygos remained sane. The remaining Aspects were unchanged. Also, the Aspects did _not_ give up their powers, so Laria will be a little overpowered in this story. Like I said in the last Note, this is a different Laria from the 'The Unwilling Shapeshifter', they only share the mouth and their original race, Orc... And i think that's it. Thx for reading! :D


	3. Chapter 3: A Glint of Life

Chapter 3: A Glint of Life

Hawke was slammed against the wall by one of the Qunari mage's spells. While he was regaining his senses. The Mage was silenced and killed by Knight-Commander Meredith. "Hawke! Are you okay?" Anders asked.

"Fine." He replied.

"Mage," Meredith regarded the healer, "But it matters not, the city needs to be defended, come, and let us rid of these Qunari."

Normally Hawke would be against her, since he supported the Mages, but, considering the state of events, "Of course, come on, let's move." He motioned to Merrill, Varric, and Anders.

Raven dashed through the streets of Lowtown, and began to get to Hightown, where there seemed to be less chaos. She came across some fresh corpses, and the blood leaded toward the keep, she continued running. And she eventually came across two angry people.

"As Knight-Commander I order you to follow my instructions." A woman in heavy armor said.

"And my tactics are nothing? You are going to lose more lives with a direct assault! Allow my mages to neutralize them!" A robed elf said.

"Enough!" Hawke bursted out, "We are going to lose even more if you two stand around arguing, Orsino, prepare your mages, it will be more efficient to contain than to kill."

"And who are you to order me?" the woman replied.

"He wishes to save the city, too, if he will get progress, let him lead." The mage stated.

Meredith backed down, "Fine, are you ready?"

"Yes," Hawke said, "Let's move!"

The plan was never able to be executed, though. When the group came to the steps where the Qunari guards _were_ earlier, stood the Saronite-plated Raven, and a pissed off Laria adorned in exotic armor, runes covering nearly every spot. The Aspect also had a short-sword attached to her side.

"Must we argue this now!?" Raven tried to remain calm. "The city falls while we stand here!"

Laria was about to retort when she heard the group enter the courtyard, "Perhaps we _should _speak of this later." She snarled. The Aspect walked into the Viscount's Keep.

"Raven?" Hawke asked as the entirety of the group approached.

"We better get in there before she does something regrettable." She sounded aggravated.

Orsino told them he was going to use his magi for healing and putting the fires out, Meredith had a group of Templars follow them and she left with Orsino. The remainder of the group entered the Keep, "She has a nice attitude." Varric quipped.

"She is like when I first met Nozdormu, she could care less about 'mortals'."

"Then why is she helping?" Hawke asked, "I mean, not that we don't need help."

"I've never seen someone get so angry over ale kegs being smashed."

The dwarf smiled, "Really?"

The group made it into the throne room, where Laria seemed to be having a staring contest with the Arishok. "Serah Hawke." The Qunari Leader greeted. "You know why we can't leave…" He paused, "Do you have the relic?"

"I do not."

"Its where-a-bouts?"

"No."

"So you will tear the city down to find it?" Raven asked.

"Yes."

"Well, you are leaving regardless." Laria began. "I say you piss off before I make you leave."

"We are denied Par Vollen until **I **regain what I have lost."

The doors flung open as a certain Rivaini Pirate walked into the room, whom was accompanied by Fenris and Sebastian, "Here is your relic." She said as she threw the rather large book to the Arishok.

"I thought you left?" Hawke asked.

"You can thank Altar Boy here for that." She motioned to the Brother.

After the Arishok looked over the book, he gave it to one of the Qunari, and Hawke asked, "So you will leave now?"

"Yes." He paused and looked at Isabella, "With the thief."

"What-…" Isabella said.

"You said…" Hawke tried to counter.

"I cannot let her go unpunished."

"You have your book, now leave!" The Death Knight spoke up. He ignored her and began walking towards Isabella.

"Leave her alone!" Hawke said as he stepped between him and Isabella.

"You would defend this lowlife?"

"Yes, I will." Raven said with her great-sword unsheathed and in a combat stance, "Back off."

"Raven, I can deal with him." Hawke said.

"Let me." She replied. He nodded at her, "Then you should leave, or I will cut you down."

"It will be your death." He said while he brandished his weapons, a massive sword and axe.

The Qunari charged at his foe, and Raven stood her ground, managing to halt his movement. The massive being began swinging his weapons at her, which she managed to either block or avoid, a few hits managed to scratch her armor, but nothing more. Even with her solid defense, the Arishok seemed undisturbed, and when he went to swing a much harder, yet slower, attack, Raven used her rune-blade to slice into his axe-wielding arm. Even with the fresh wound, the Arishok seemed unaffected as he continued to pummel Raven. The wound seemed to make him more determined, as the attacks that hit her armor managed to bite into the Saronite, if she wasn't in this battle, she would be impressed, Saronite isn't easily damaged. The duel just went on and on, few blows were made, and even after chilling the Qunari with frost, he continued to move at the same pace. But then a fault was made, the Arishok's axe missed the decapitation and buried itself deep in one of the building's support pillars, and after dodging his sword, Raven sliced and separated the axe head from the handle.

The Arishok immediately went for the Death Knight after that, and put more muscle into his swings, his attacks were _faster_ than before, how could he keep this much power and speed going for an extended period of time? His stamina rivaled her own. His assault did not cease, and Raven was kept on guard, and he managed to slice into her armor more than once… then she caught the briefest glimpse of a black and white scaled dragon near the end of the room, an Infinite, and it vanished as soon as she saw it. The Arishok slammed her with the blunt of his weapon before she could re-focus on him, sliding her across the floor, and it actually _hurt_, the thought was amusing, she couldn't remember the last time anything made her _hurt_. The Arishok was on her in seconds and she rolled out of the way before being sliced in half. She casted a quick life-steal spell on the Arishok, but… nothing, the magic was neutralized. She mumbled a few swear words at the Infinites. Oh, but it didn't stop there, she felt an energy-transfer spell from her to the Arishok that worked in his favor. Her block was instantly overpowered by the enhanced Arishok.

As strange as it was, there was relief coming from a small part of her, the part that wanted her to die, the part that wanted her to get rid of the curse of undeath, to let her move on. The Arishok swung his sword, snapping her great-sword in half and making a hole through her armor and her body, but the blade suddenly stopped. The part that wanted her to move on groaned, and it asked who would stop him? Interfere with a one-on-one duel? When she looked through fading vision, she saw the Arishok being pummeled by Hawke, it seemed he won, but she didn't get to see the final moments as her eyes closed.

The Arishok was stabbed through the heart with Hawke's short-sword, before the giant even fell, he yelled, "Anders! Get her!"

But the Healer was already getting to her before he said to, Raven's broken sword lied in two spots a few feet from her, and her armor was piercing her insides, but the moment he went to pull one of the shards out, Justice forced him to pull his hand back 'telling' him that the material is corruption incarnate. "Let me do this, Justice!" He yelled to himself, "She will die if I don't!"

But then the blue glow showed, "She does not deserve to live, she practices things far worse than blood magic!" The booming voice of Justice said.

"We don't have time for this!" Hawke said, "Someone get Anders back and help me get these shards out!"

"The amount of time that would take, you will fall to the corruption of Yogg'Saron, before you are even close to finishing." Laria announced.

"Do you have a better idea?" He asked.

"I might, but I would rather _see _her die."

"How could you say something like that?" Merrill asked.

"Maybe it has something to do with her killing off my Flight?"

"It's still wrong."

"For the love of…" Laria began walking towards Raven, "Get your ass out of the way and let me fix this." She said to Hawke. The Aspect concentrated fire on the fragments, causing them to melt inside of her, then she forced the smelted Saronite to phase through her, making a small puddle below the Death Knight's body. "There, the Saronite is _gone_, now get him healing soon or she will still die." She motioned towards Anders. "And no, I don't heal, I cauterize, sometimes to the point of turning flesh to magma."

* * *

**A/N:** I didn't want to have the canon, with Hawke fighting the Arishok, even though Hawke will retain the title of Champion. And now Act 2 is finished, I will have Legacy occur before the start of Act 3, and I might do Mark of the Assassin. The Unwilling Shapeshifter's next chapter will be up soon, and I think that's it... Thanks for reading, and have a good day.


	4. Chapter 4: Baited

Chapter 4: Baited

Days have went by since the Arishok's death, with Hawke being declared Champion, and Raven laying in a cot in Anders's clinic. Her damaged Saronite chest-armor rested in a secluded container with her sword, away from any who might touch. The rest of the armor was laid out near the container, and currently she was dressed in a simple cloth robe. Well, not now though, as Anders was treating her chest wound. The wound itself hurt, it almost reached her backside, but the more Anders managed to mend flesh together, things seemed off. The new skin was warm, as if blood were flowing beneath, and it also showed more life, with her skin color being her old blue color, like it was before she died in Northrend. Just how much did the Infinites interfere with the battle? The only reasonable answer was to ask Laria, she would have to at least _detect _the troubling Flight. Yet, her chest refused to let her leave, the pain was overwhelming. As she attempted to get up, she grunted.

"Stay still." Anders said when he noticed her movements, "You aren't healed yet."

"I _should _be fine by now…" She recovered from worse than this in a shorter time span.

"It was only five days ago when I could see your spine from that wound, you are lucky to have survived." He shuddered at the thought.

"_FIVE_ days!? Something's wrong." She muttered and she touched her stomach, her hand felt like it gave frost-burn to her wound.

He saw her cringe in pain and let more healing flow into her. "Rest." He said.

She ignored him and attempted to get up, yet he pushed her back down. "Fine, but get Laria here."

"Well, sure, but why?"

"I need answers."

"I won't be long." He assured.

Anders traveled through the slums of Darktown, and into Lowtown to The Hanged Man, if she wasn't here, he could at least get Varric's "people" to search. And what luck he had, Laria and Isabella were at a table, chatting about Maker knows what.

"Anders…" The pirate purred. "I was just telling our 'queen' here about your delightful electricity trick…"

"Maker…" He sighed and refocused back on his task, "Raven wants to see you, Laria."

"Gee, I wonder about what…" she looked at Isabella, "Another time?"

"Perhaps you can share your _adventures_ next time?"

As the two went back to the clinic Laria said, "Why can't more of you be like her?"

"Some of us have a conscious."

"If you did have one, why did you leave her alone?"

"What?"

"I'm pretty sure that Raven will want to talk about her duel, and I know the Infinites don't play nice." He still looked puzzled. "Mortals…" She sighed, "An agent of the Infinite was attending the duel, assisting the Arishok. Normally, they twist events to make deaths _seem_ normal, if that doesn't work, they will resort to outright murder. And **you** left her alone."

The two arrived at the clinic and all the cots were empty, including Raven's. There wasn't any sign of a fight, yet there was a sheet of paper lying near the chest that stored the Saronite armor.

Anders picked it up and looked at it, "What language is this?"

Laria grabbed the paper from him, "Draconic." She said, and moments after reading it, her face showed pure anger, she tossed the paper in the air and stormed out. She then took her dragon form and flew out of Darktown, breaking concrete along the way.

Anders picked up the paper, and two words were now readable, on the top of the paper were large letters spelling out, 'Ransom', and below that was a single word, 'Onyxia'.

Even from within the confines of his room, Hawke heard a very obnoxious commotion from outside. Looking out the window, he saw people fleeing from the Viscount's Keep. He quickly grabbed his weapons and armor and set out towards the danger.

"Where is SHE!" Laria yelled at the Infinite she held in her grip. People around her fled when she killed the other disguised Infinite.

The dragon laughed, "You cannot save her."

The Aspect slammed the dragon's skull on the ground, "Tell me!"

"No." Laria unsheathed her short-sword and sliced off the Infinite's front left leg. "You won't learn anything from me!" And off went his front right leg. "If I die, so does your chances of finding her."

"So you do know." Laria sheathed her sword and grabbed his head with her other hand. She summoned a large amount of Shadow magic, causing her to rip the dragon's memories from him. The dragon was released, dead before he hit the ground.

Hawke finally arrived, seeing Laria exiting. "What happened?"

"Piss off." She growled before slamming the doors open and taking dragon form to fly off into the distance. She was heading towards a place called Vinmark Mountains, where the Infinites held Onyxia captive.

* * *

Raven groaned as she held her head. She looked around and saw only darkness… "Infinites…" She sighed, remembering that the dragons had slipped in moments after Anders left. She heard another groan from within the same room, "Hello?"

A woman, dressed in rags came into view. Her eyes gave off the orange color of a dragon. "Someone to join me, then?" She said with dry humor.

"Who are you?"

"Onyxia," She paused, "You're Raven, I thought you were dead."

"Perhaps in this time-line."

"Makes sense."

"Where are we?"

"If only I knew. Just hope you fare better than the others."

"Others?"

"Flights," She clarified.

"They killed off the Flights?"

"Most, all that remains are the Infinites, Chromatics, and me."

"So, the Aspects are dead?"

"It would be merciful, but no, their power all resides in Murozond."

"Surely that amount of power would've tore him apart."

"If only that did happen…"

* * *

**A/N: **Yeah, this chapter is a little shorter :-/ , I originally was going to have Onyxia appear in Mark of the Assassin, but I switched over to Legacy. I'll probably let Laria overpower this side, while Hawke and the others take on the start of Act 3.


End file.
